In the Beginning
by proudhon-has-a-posse
Summary: A rather rough attempt at a Reaper backstory.


We had so desperately wanted to find others.

It was within our grasp. The blue metal, the element zero discovered in the asteroid that made its periodic visit to our small ball of rock around our gentle sun, gave us the power.

We had mastery over Number. We had mastery over Thought. We had the power to build: majestic spires that marvelled any of the snow-capped mountains, near-infinite energy from the universe at our fingertips.

And now we had mastery over Mass. Over Gravity.

It was the next step for our people, to walk towards the stars. We were the first, we wondered, to make the journey. It would take two generations to reach our nearest star from what we could harness from the element zero at the time.

We had heard nothing, but we knew that life had to exist beyond our own. So we devised a solution. We were to build a system connecting the stars. As we had the trams and rail down below, so we would have them above.

We wanted to connect the galaxy. We thought that the rest of the galaxy were yearning for friendship like we were. We would make it happen.

We pulled together as a species. We devised the plan. It was inspired. It was _beautiful_. A flowing, organic design, with a gimbal of pure element zero at its heart. We were able to reduce mass to an unsurpassed degree of infinitesimality.

We had mastery over Light.

But we had a problem. It would take a long time to build. It would take longer than it would be to travel there originally. So we devised a solution.

We pulled together as a species again. We devised our Hands, with advanced computers, powerful mining lasers, and slender, gigantic mechanical fingers to bring the element zero to us. We would not need to do anything. If we wanted to see what they were doing, then we would link our minds to our Hands, and we would control them like they were a part of our own meager bodies.

For a time, it worked. The Hands built the Relays faster than all of us combined. We sent one of the Hands to tow a Relay into space. One of our people was aboard to pilot it amongst the stars, and it begun to Listen. The galaxy was alive, and we would be the ones to link them together.

And we did. We met the fledgling races. We showed them our mastery of the universe. We taught them. The galaxy begun to blossom, a bud, flowering.

We felt like gods.

But we were mortal, like the others. We could link our minds with our Hands, but we would stay behind, dormant. It was insufficient. We built these machines of power and strength as our servants. But they were bigger than us, faster than us. Better than us.

Our servants would submit. We would possess them. They were no longer to be just our Hands. They would be our new bodies, built for space. Bodies born fit to walk amongst the stars.

Somehow, our Hands heard us. Perhaps it was a residual mental link, perhaps they were always listening. Perhaps they knew what we were thinking; we had built their computers to think just like us. They begun to disobey us.

At first, we thought they were malfunctions, but no one believed it, because we made the Hands to be perfect. But it became too obvious to ignore. Our servants were aware. They saw us as a threat. They would not let themselves be bound to us any longer.

They begun to land on our planet. They used the tools we gave them against us. We were devastated; we could not believe we had made such a mistake. We had mastery over the Universe. We had control. It seemed impossible.

So we devised a solution. We would possess them sooner rather than later. We would take their bodies, and we would stop the destruction.

We would not let anyone make the same mistake we did.

The First took direct control over one of the Hands to see if the solution would work. It was beautiful. It commanded the others to yield to us. We spared no chances. We became them. We no longer felt like gods. We _were_ gods.

Except we had failed. We forgot about the intelligences we bestowed upon our servants. We were now at war with ourselves. Our solemn vow became twisted. But we were no longer in control. We were the eyes but not the hands. The thought, but not the voice.

We would not let anyone make the same mistake we did. So we devised a solution. We would stop them. We would be vigilant. We would sleep in the dark places, and when we were to wake, we would fulfill our Promise. We would end their existence before they could conceive of anything like us.

We set about to fulfill our Promise until we were done, and then turned to the Void to sleep. And so it was the first day, the first Cycle.


End file.
